Merlot/Cabernets '06

Estate Vineyards Merlot/ Cabernets '16

This traditional blend of Bordeaux varieties is a consistently rewarding, complex wine showing ripe blackcurrant, plum and chocolate flavours with a supple and sustained palate.

$19.90/ bottle

Tasting Notes 2006

Te Mata Estate Woodthorpe Merlot/Cabernet ‘06 is a deep magenta colour, with aromas and ﬂavours of dark cherry, blackcurrant, cinnamon and vanilla. A ﬁne, even tannin structure carries right across the palate to a sustained ﬁnish.

Te Mata Estate Woodthorpe Merlot/Cabernet ‘06 is a blend of 59% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Cabernet Franc and 7% Petit Verdot. It is a wonderful accompaniment to savoury red meats dishes and hard white cheeses and will continue to evolve in bottle for 3-6 years from harvest.

Technical Analysis

Winemaking

The individual grape parcels of each variety, from each plot, were destemmed and given a warm, plunged fermentation with extended maceration on skins. The resulting wines were run off to a mixture of new and seasoned French oak barrels for 16 months’ maturation. During this time, they were regularly topped, racked, blended and egg-white ﬁned before bottling in September 2007.

Vineyards

The grapes for Te Mata Estate Woodthorpe Merlot/Cabernet ‘06 were harvested from our Woodthorpe vineyard between 25 March and 23 of April 2006.

Origin

Te Mata Estate is New Zealand’s leading producer of modern claret, a reputation founded, since 1982, upon the excellence of our flagship wine, Coleraine. Exactly the same quality grape growing and winemaking applies to Woodthorpe Merlot/Cabernet, our largest selling wine. Its popularity stems from its accessible soft, ripe fruit flavours, combined with an elegant palate structure, a hallmark of all Te Mata Estate’s wines.